Our commitment to society
Our donations and sponsorships complement the diverse contributions made by our employees worldwide through their personal commitment.
Strategy and Management
Our commitment comprises donations and sponsorship with a special focus on activities that complement our purpose: Leading beyond chemistry to improve life, today and tomorrow. We only sponsor projects and initiatives that fit our core brand and reflect our social values. In addition, our aim is to foster the positive development of society around our sites worldwide.
Our operating units support their own projects tailored to their business and local communities—within the framework of our policies on donations and sponsorship. Overall, our commitment concentrates on social projects, education and science, culture, and sports.
In addition, Evonik contributes to society in a variety of different ways. You can find out more in our sustainability report 2023.
The Evonik Foundation
The Evonik Foundation has a special place in Evonik's social commitment. Its motto is supporting people because it is people who shape the future. The Evonik Foundation pursues its goals through its own programs and projects and by making donations to support projects run by other organizations. The foundation’s mission defines young people, science, Germany, and integration as its key areas of focus. Every application for support is evaluated on the basis of the foundation’s mission. To qualify for assistance, a project must meet at least two of the key criteria and must fall within one of the focal areas of the foundation’s mission: education, science, culture and the arts, the church, social projects, and sports. The Evonik Foundation’s support centers primarily on the areas close to Evonik’s sites in Germany.
The Evonik Group's activities in 2023
The company's internal "Young Spirit" initiative thrives on the social commitment of our employees, who pass on their enthusiasm for science to children between the ages of four and ten. Thanks to a new digital collaboration platform with learning videos, these mentors can be active regardless of time and place. Increasingly internationally networked, they offer self-organized experiment days at kindergartens and schools and get children excited about science with the help of hands-on experiments. In 2023, "Young Spirit" celebrated its 20th anniversary. Around 200 Evonik employees volunteer in daycare centers and schools throughout Germany.
Sponsorship activities, particularly in the area of culture, were reorganized in 2023. Collaborations such as those with the Jewish Museum Frankfurt and the Lit.Ruhr literature festival were transferred to the Evonik Foundation and converted into donations by resolution of the Evonik Executive Board. Due to the company's economic situation, there was also restraint, particularly with regard to new sponsorships. This trend will continue in 2024. To train young people in the culture of debate, Evonik initiated the #mitreden competition together with the Rheinische Post newspaper. The finalists debated with each other in the Düsseldorf state parliament.
Evonik supports activities in popular and professional sports. As the main international sponsor and sustainability partner of Borussia Dortmund (BVB), we want to use the BVB Evonik Soccer Academy to get children around the world excited about soccer and activate this project for social and societal issues.
For the first time, the jointly developed topic "Anti-discrimination & anti-racism" was also integrated into the courses as a so-called half-time campaign, in which children are to be sensitized to the topic in a sporting way. The topic of "Preventing sexualized violence in sport" was also expanded to include "Interpersonal violence in sport". Accordingly, we offered additional training courses for employees.
As part of "BVB bewegt", we offer weekly exercise programs at eight schools and five daycare centers. We reach almost 700 children here every week. In addition, 32 elementary school with almost 600 children took part in the BVB Evonik Football Academy's BVB Primary School Cup in 2023
USA & Canada (North America)
As part of the BVB professionals' summer tour, we co-hosted Evonik camps as CSR activations in the United States for children with disabilities with BVB coaches and BVB legend Roman Weidenfeller. The BVB International Academy continued to grow in 2023. A total of 13 locations in North America with around 3,500 players were offered. Regular club training and participation in leagues and tournaments take place there. We held a total of eight Evonik camps at these black and yellow locations. At the end of the year, the participants of the BVB International Academy came together for the "School of Excellence" event and the coaches for training in Dallas.
Asia
In spring 2023, the BVB Evonik Football Academy entered into a corporate social responsibility partnership in India. Together with the AMM Foundation, a soccer program for socially disadvantaged children is being developed in Chennai to promote sporting and personal skills.
Australia
After several years, the BVB Evonik Football Academy is once again permanently present in Australia. The soccer club Wynnum Wolves FC from Brisbane has entered into a cooperation with the BVB Evonik Football Academy to strengthen women's soccer, from which both sides benefit. In addition to a permanent exchange between the players and coaches, BVB coaches will hold an annual soccer camp on site in Brisbane from April 2024.
Europe
With the Hungarian-German Sports Club from Budapest (UDSÉ), the BVB Evonik Football Academy gained another international partner in the Hungarian capital
Evonik also supported other social and ecological projects in 2023, including "Saber Viver (Learning to Live)" at the Barra do Riacho site in Brazil. Through various educational and socio-cultural programs, this initiative supports children and young people to strengthen ties with families, schools and the community. The project offers workshops on specific activities such as sports, music lessons, robotics and IT. More than 1,100 children and young people are looked after here every week.
The Evonik Foundation's activities in 2023
The Evonik Foundation is committed to supporting young people on their path to a self-determined life. Even during their school years, children and young people face numerous challenges that are crucial for their later professional competence, personal responsibility and finding a balance between personal freedom and social integration. The foundation aims to give young people confidence in their own abilities and thus show them prospects for the future. This goal will be achieved by supporting 60 different projects and initiatives in 2023, both in terms of content and funding.
The promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM subjects) is a key concern of the Evonik Foundation and requires continuous and long-term efforts along the entire educational career path. Our cooperation partners, including schools and universities as well as educational initiatives, play a decisive role in enriching the learning experiences of students in a variety of ways through a strong connection to practice and application.
Science education projects
Educational initiative: "Water Days Rheinfelden 125"
In 2023, for example, the Evonik Foundation implemented the educational initiative "Water Days Rheinfelden 125 - Together for a Living Rhine" in cooperation with the non-profit organization H2Org. Under the leadership of Professor Dr. Andreas Fath, a chemist at Furtwangen University, the H2Org organization uses environmental education projects and participatory experiments to help people understand and protect water as a vital resource. At the beginning of the series of events, Fath showed "1231 Kilometer". The documentary follows Fath's swimming journey along the entire length of the Rhine, from the source to the estuary, and addresses the increasing contamination of water bodies by microplastics. As part of a knowledge workshop, eight school classes and interested members of the public then had the opportunity to learn at interactive stations how microplastics are created and what measures are needed to protect water bodies. The Water Days concluded with a Cleanup Day, during which volunteers collected a significant amount of waste along the banks of the Rhine, highlighting the urgency of the issue. The "Water Days Rheinfelden" inspired more than 500 people from young to old. They all learned that intensive water protection is essential to protect against microplastics.
Association for Youth Work in Astronomy (VEGA) e.V. FRANKFURT
This year, the Evonik Foundation once again sponsored the astronomy camp for young people organized by the Association for Youth Work in Astronomy (VEGA). The camp is an annual vacation program for young people with a passion for astronomy and related disciplines such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science and space travel. The camp takes place at locations in Germany that are characterized by good conditions for observing the sky.
This year, clear nights offered perfect conditions for observing the starry sky together. For those who wanted to aim high, there was the opportunity to build and launch compressed air and solid fuel rockets in the workshop. Over the course of the camp, participants aged between 14 and 24 had the opportunity to expand their knowledge in various working groups. Topics such as stellar physics, practical astronomy, space travel and astrobiology as well as workshops dealing with the Python programming language and the reconstruction of particle showers were offered. A mathematics seminar led the young people to answers to technical questions about functions, derivatives and integral calculus. Other topics such as Taylor series, complex numbers and set theory were also on the agenda. A physics seminar dealt with the harmonic oscillator and simple experiments on quantum mechanics.
Scholarship from the Evonik Foundation
The Evonik Foundation is involved with various scholarships. The centerpiece is the Evonik Foundation scholarship for scientific theses (master's theses, doctorates). The Evonik Foundation scholarship is open to students of all nationalities. The aim is to provide talented scientists with the best possible support. In addition to financial support, the mentoring of the scholarship holders in terms of content and personal support is of great importance. Scholarships are only awarded within the framework of an annually defined funding priority. The applicant's research project must be in line with the funding priority. All scholarship holders are characterized by their scientific research in a renowned, chemically oriented working group at a German university or at a non-university research institution. In addition, the Evonik Foundation awards an annual Werner Schwarze Scholarship to young scientists conducting research in the field of amino acids. Werner Schwarze was an eminent chemist and researcher at the former Degussa AG. One of his main achievements was the development of D, L-methionine - today one of the most important products in the Evonik Industries portfolio. In September 1997, Degussa AG honored its former researcher by, among other things, establishing the Werner Schwarze Scholarship to promote amino acid research. The annual meeting of scholarship holders is an integral part of the program. The aim is to network the young scientists and engage them in effective discussions with their mentors. The Evonik Foundation's scholarship ensures a high reputation in academic research and teaching through its direct link to industry.
Germany Scholarship
The Evonik Foundation is a long-standing and important sponsor of the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship. This innovative funding program supports talented and committed students. The special feature of this scholarship is the combination of private and public funds, which makes it a prime example of a public-private partnership. Since the initiative was launched, the Evonik Foundation has awarded more than 1,700 scholarships. Here, too, our aim is to give the scholarship holders an insight into the work of an industrial group that contributes in many ways to ensuring a better future through sustainable developments. The selection criteria for the Deutschlandstipendium are wide-ranging. In addition to outstanding academic achievements, social commitment and special personal circumstances are also taken into account. This shows that the scholarship not only promotes intellectual abilities, but also the development of personalities who are willing to make a contribution to society. The Deutschlandstipendium is therefore not only an investment in the individual future of the scholarship holders, but also in the social and economic development of the country.
Foundation Lebensspur e. V.
Since 2021, the Evonik Foundation has been involved in the Lebensspur e. V. foundation in Cologne, which is dedicated to supporting people with disabilities. Its aim is to improve the quality of life and participation of people with disabilities. The Lebensspur Foundation organizes and supports projects that promote inclusion and self-determination, such as barrier-free housing projects or leisure activities, as well as counselling services for those affected and their families.
Another focus is on raising public awareness in order to break down prejudices and raise awareness of the concerns of people with disabilities. The aim is to support young people in their personal development at various stages of their lives so that they can actively participate in economic and social life.
The Evonik Foundation contributes to this by sponsoring scholarships for young people with hearing, visual and physical disabilities who are on their way to university entrance.
Culture of remembrance and promotion of democracy
The Evonik Foundation set a new focus in 2023 with projects and events on the topics of "Culture of Remembrance" and "Promoting Democracy".
Events
Meron Mendel and Saba-Nur Cheema, the Israeli living in Germany and the German with Pakistani roots, have been the most influential couple in the field of interculturalism since their column in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. At the invitation of the Evonik Foundation, they presented their new book "Talking about Israel" in Essen and discussed current issues relating to post-colonialism, anti-Semitism and the BDS movement with the audience. 60 companies, from large corporations to start-ups, have joined the Business Council for Democracy - established by the Hertie Foundation, the Bosch Foundation and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue - in the fight against online hatred, fake news and conspiracy narratives. The Evonik Foundation organized the first NRW network meeting with the aim of further increasing the number of BC4D participants. With success: well-known companies such as BASF, Bayer and Goldbeck have joined the BC4D, which now has more than 100 participating companies and associations.
Project funding
The Evonik Foundation took over the sponsorship of the Jewish Museums in Berlin and Frankfurt from Evonik Industries AG. For ten years, Evonik Industries AG had sponsored the "intonations" chamber music festival at the Jewish Museum Berlin in order to give the Evonik brand a positive image in political Berlin. intonations" is now being replaced by "Jewish Places" - and thus brand communication is being replaced by a culture of remembrance. The aim of the "Jewish Places" project sponsored by the Evonik Foundation is to make Jewish life in Germany visible on a digital platform. The Evonik Foundation also supported the work of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt in the reporting year. As the legal successor to Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt (Degussa for short), which had been an institution in Frankfurt, Evonik feels particularly close to the Jewish Museum Frankfurt.
Cultural sponsorship
As a good neighbor, the Evonik Foundation also supported two cultural projects in its immediate vicinity: the privately sponsored literature festival lit.RUHR and a current exhibition at the Folkwang Museum. As the creation of the Folkwang Museum is closely linked to the history of Evonik - or more precisely, to the history of its predecessor company Goldschmidt - this has come full circle.